tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-68282919670941748972017-08-15T16:57:50.954-07:00The Adorakble NymphUmbrie Shadowsongnoreply@blogger.comBlogger25125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6828291967094174897.post-41279964777326707852017-07-22T04:38:00.001-07:002017-07-22T04:38:32.993-07:00Savage Worlds, Subterfuge can really save the Partyin playing multiple campaigns of Savage Worlds since 2010. i found that when you play with the 2011 shaken rules in a deliberately benny starved game, that the best use for a benny, is not to soak a wound in combat, but to completely bypass an unneccessary combat encounter that is irrelevant to the story and here is why.<br /><br />Savage Worlds has an extremely dangerous combat system and healing is a pain because of the 10 minutes required per attempt and limit of one attempt per character no more than one hour after a fight. even if healing consumables change how healing works, this is why i consider a healer with arcane background a huge lifesaver.<br /><br />not only are player characters frequently incapacitated or maimed. often taking permanent injuries. but an extra has just as much chance of taking out a wild card as another wild card does. so because of this, and because of how difficult it is to properly heal. the next best thing is is to have a very attractive face character capable of using social skills to stop irrelevant fights before they happen. you are effectively spending on benny to save yourself and your companions a potential two or three bennies apiece.<br /><br />the best use of a benny is to prevent damage in the first place rather than to soak it. and some GMs like having a more social group or having a more social character in their group. because social minmaxers have less stigma than combat minmaxers, despite both being minmaxers.<br /><br />being able to disguise yourself and bluff your way past encounters really, really, helps quite a lot.Umbrie Shadowsonghttps://plus.google.com/118051250263854884328noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6828291967094174897.post-10774540027972481752017-04-22T00:42:00.001-07:002017-04-22T00:42:23.405-07:00Substititutions for Flavorall too often. a particular reflavoring or reskin of a character concept will end up with some problematic abilities that make very little sense for the new concept, this is where i introduce concept based substitutions.<br /><br />as part of a Reskin of a Class or Race, a character can do the following things for concept purposes<br /><br />0. a concept must be pitched for the modified character, consisting of a cultural background and home region as appropriate to the setting, as well as values and standards.<br /><br />1. a character may shift around racial attribute modifiers wholesale to better represent their new species or subrace. the Game Master has final say over any shifted attributes. if an Elf moves their&nbsp;+2 dexterity over to their Constitution, they must place that -2 penalty they would have had to another attribute. maybe they move it over to charisma, this is recommended not only for new Subraces, but for members of existing races that grew up exposed to different cultures or for reskinning a specific race to represent another,<br /><br />2. a character may swap around resistances or immunities for equivalent resistances or immunities, 1 for 1, conditions for conditions and damage types for damage types. the GM may need to review the damage or condition types being substituted to ensure things are fair. swapping the rarely used necrotic resistance for ubiquitous fire resistance gives a race a lot of defensive gain, swapping cold resistance to gain fire resistance is fine, as is swapping radiant for necrotic<br /><br />3. a character may swap circumstances for which an ability applies on a one for one basis. stone cunning can instead be applied to woodland areas instead of caves, but should be renamed something like Woodwise. to represent the purpose of the new ability<br /><br />4. a character may swap out proficiencies and bonuses with weapons or skills for equivalent weapons or skills on a one for one basis. swapping longsword for rapier or scimitar or swapping battle axe for shortsword is fine, or swapping out longsword for katana. as long as the weapons make sense for the cultural background of the species. while trading stealth or insight for perception is fine, trading away animal handling or performance to gain perception is a bit iffy, trading away performance to gain animal handling is fine, this is best reviewed case by case<br /><br />5. if the character is a member of a class that gains armor proficiencies but not unarmored defense, they can swap out armor and shield profiicencies for unarmored defense as long as they forever opt out of armor proficiency when they multiclass<br /><br />6. look at the final product, and ensure the character isn't a modified race or class exclusively designed for a single purpose, such as being the best pyromancer or the best scimitar wielder. be wary of cultures developed to thinly veil these solutions behind story shortcuts. you are merely designing a character of an exotic background, not crunching numbers to fight better.Umbrie Shadowsonghttps://plus.google.com/118051250263854884328noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6828291967094174897.post-91317291897797458092016-12-17T17:52:00.000-08:002016-12-17T17:52:09.627-08:00Close Quarters combat revision<div class="MsoNormal">Pierce the Gap (Requires Dexterity 13)<o:p></o:p></div><br /><div class="MsoNormal">You have learned to deliberately make precise strikes to vulnerable vital areas with light weapons. Before you make an attack with a light weapon that you are proficient with, you can choose to take a -5 penalty lo the attack roll. If the attack hits, you add +10 to the attack's damage.<o:p></o:p></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal">the benefit of Trading Accuracy for Damage, i hear lots of people say is a powerful benefit, especially in the hands of a rogue. but i wanted to retain that benefit, for primarily dexterity based fighters rather than for non rogues. so i changed the name and removed the other 2 benefits. &nbsp;i wanted to keep this core mechanic, but it was intended to make dual wielding viable or to make other dexterity based characters work.</div>Umbrie Shadowsonghttps://plus.google.com/118051250263854884328noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6828291967094174897.post-70326125659493123132016-12-17T16:10:00.000-08:002016-12-17T16:10:04.981-08:00New 5th Edition Feat in Need of Review and Critiquei am working on a feat for the flavor of a Close Quarters combatant who gets inside the reach of their opponent's weapon and strikes weak points with a small weapon for extra damage. the basic idea was inspired by classic knife fighting and other forms of close quarters combat and is designed for tight spaces. i really don't want to give up the Sharpshooter/Great Weapon Master Benefit though but i need something to keep it valuable.<br /><br />the original feat had a third benefit in the middle, but the benefit was too potent and too questionable in when it applied.<br /><br /><span style="background-color: #fefefe; color: #212121; font-family: Roboto, RobotoDraft, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; white-space: pre-wrap;">Close Quarters Combat</span><br style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; background-color: #fefefe; color: #212121; font-family: Roboto, RobotoDraft, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; white-space: pre-wrap;" /><span style="background-color: #fefefe; color: #212121; font-family: Roboto, RobotoDraft, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; white-space: pre-wrap;">*Before you make an attack with a light weapon that you are proficient with, you can choose to take a -5 penalty lo the attack roll. If the attack hits, you add +10 to the attack's damage.</span><br style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; background-color: #fefefe; color: #212121; font-family: Roboto, RobotoDraft, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; white-space: pre-wrap;" /><br style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; background-color: #fefefe; color: #212121; font-family: Roboto, RobotoDraft, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; white-space: pre-wrap;" /><span style="background-color: #fefefe; color: #212121; font-family: Roboto, RobotoDraft, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; white-space: pre-wrap;">*you have advantage when attacking an opponent you are engaged in a grapple with when using a light weapon you are proficient with</span>Umbrie Shadowsonghttps://plus.google.com/118051250263854884328noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6828291967094174897.post-63858843430013150262016-09-11T05:26:00.001-07:002016-09-11T05:26:49.525-07:00i am fucking sick of Power Armori have played in 8 Fallout themed homebrew campaigns with the same GM since i started savage worlds in 2010. you know what they all had in common? we had to collaborate with the Enclave as thier Fetch Dogs. it was pretty much "we need you to go to X Zone to Steal Y Item from Z faction." in a repetitive loop.<br /><br />we always end up with fucking power armor by the 4th month, Pip Boys by the 2nd, and mimiguns by the 6th. then it is pretty much 4 months of hosing foes in lead and recovering valuable items. no matter the group. any character identity is lost to identical gear.<br /><br />we have to snowflake ourselvves in the beginning. which screws us over, knowing how annoying the loss of identity is. here is what i want to see.<br /><br /><br />1. Player characters shouldn't be running around in power armor unless they are filthy rich<br /><br />2. other armors should be competitive<br /><br />3. miniguns should only be on vehicles<br /><br />4. if players are going to all have pip boys. don't perk tax us to use them.<br /><br />5. ammunition shouldn't be as easy to replace<br /><br />6. reduce the damned cash flow. but also reduce prices<br /><br />7. lower the damned number bloat. if you couldn't get an extra 6-16 toughness from your armor. foes with 16+ toughness won't be needed. it makes lesser threats dangerous again.Umbrie Shadowsonghttps://plus.google.com/118051250263854884328noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6828291967094174897.post-37979883532174993592016-05-02T17:00:00.002-07:002016-05-02T17:00:45.676-07:00Powergaming? is it truly as horrible as Credit is Given?i know that many people complain about powergamers for ruining the hobby. but how many of you honestly beleive the concept of powergaming could be something positive? something constructive? how many good things were born out of an honest desire to not actually drastically fall behind your companions? how many things were born out of a desire to tell a grandiose, epic and exaggerated story in the vein of various tales from mythology, anime or even fantasy fiction? if a mary sue is a wish fulfillment character inserted by the author? how many of us have wishes we desire to fulfill? how badly do we desire to fulfill these wishes?<br /><br />i used to think being called a powergamer was a bad thing because of the stigma that surrounded the label and my desire to avoid the stigma. but everybody optimizes numbers to some extent. Archetypes, classes and roles in many RPGs prove this to be true. i realized, i was using a redundant word to hide from the shame of something i was exposed to for a little over 20 years.<br /><br />everybody wants their character to be effective, to contribute to their role in a team. nobody wants to be the character that is carried, whether due to their character's age, disabilities or level. it is a primordial urge. Separate but Equal is an important thing in RPGs. i mean, murderhobos and minmaxers themselves aren't a bad thing. rather, it is jerkwads and elitists that are the problem, people who cause tension for their fellow players by simply being rude.<br /><br />i mean. building a combat optimized character isn't an issue. building a socially optimized character isn't an issue. using dice to overcome a character's role despite an IRL deficiency isn't an issue. the issue, is players who feel a desire to bully other characters and rub their face in it.<br /><br />do any of you think powergaming is honestly a bad thing? do you think any of the grandiose and epic wish fulfilment characters that pervade our world's literature is honestly a bad thing? Power Gamed Characters aren't Exclusive to Anime, many characters in Mythology, Comic Books, Literature and Stories dating back older than the written word, include powergamed wish fulfillment characters.Umbrie Shadowsonghttps://plus.google.com/118051250263854884328noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6828291967094174897.post-6800734395753704782016-04-26T22:24:00.004-07:002016-04-26T22:24:52.921-07:00Ilina Rants about D20<span style="background-color: white; font-family: Verdana, Arial; font-size: 13.3333px; line-height: 16px;">"3.5 Problems mostly still exist in Pathfinder, such as the Candle of Invocation trick to chain gate an infinite number of Ifriti for an infinite number of Wishes. all they really did, was inflate health pools for casters and remove a mountain of key martial tools that were mandantory for speeding up fights in d20. like Pounce or Shock Trooper. and most of the issues they removed, they eventually brought back. you still have slow and grindy fights, because every martial character absolutely required pounce and shock trooper, and you can get neither without houseruling in 3.5 content.</span><br style="font-family: Verdana, Arial; font-size: 13.3333px; line-height: 16px; max-height: 1e+06px; word-wrap: break-word;" /><br style="font-family: Verdana, Arial; font-size: 13.3333px; line-height: 16px; max-height: 1e+06px; word-wrap: break-word;" /><span style="background-color: white; font-family: Verdana, Arial; font-size: 13.3333px; line-height: 16px;">but most of the overpowered buffs are still overpowered. Save or Dies are now useless. Casters are tougher than they used to be, and well, all the things needed to speed up a fight to a reasonable pace are effectively gone from players. leading to longer and more grueling fights than the ones in 3.5. but even with 4e Sized Health Pools, healing spells still aren't good enough to save you from most things. because healing spells still use their 2nd edition numbers. which are inferior to the numbers that are actually needed for healing to be viable.</span><br style="font-family: Verdana, Arial; font-size: 13.3333px; line-height: 16px; max-height: 1e+06px; word-wrap: break-word;" /><br style="font-family: Verdana, Arial; font-size: 13.3333px; line-height: 16px; max-height: 1e+06px; word-wrap: break-word;" /><span style="background-color: white; font-family: Verdana, Arial; font-size: 13.3333px; line-height: 16px;">so Pathfinder fights take forever, and you spend long amounts of time being poked by a wand to heal between fights. because wizard health pools are literally doubled thanks to a combination of favored class bonus, the increase in minimum hit dice, the addition of flexible bonuses to several races, and the buffing of the toughness feat. meaning, by playing a human, you can start with your 20 INT and 16 Con. and literally receive 9 hit points per level, or pretty close to 15 hit points at level 1."</span><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: 0px 0px; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; border: 0px; font-family: Verdana, Arial; font-size: 13.3333px; line-height: 16px; margin: 0px; max-height: 1e+06px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; word-wrap: break-word;"><br /></span><br /><span style="background-color: white; font-family: Verdana, Arial; font-size: 13.3333px; line-height: 16px;"><br /></span><span style="background-color: white; font-family: Verdana, Arial; font-size: 13.3333px; line-height: 16px;">an old Quote of mine from Happy Jacks</span><br /><span style="background-color: white; font-family: Verdana, Arial; font-size: 13.3333px; line-height: 16px;"><br /></span><span style="background-color: white; font-family: Verdana, Arial; font-size: 13.3333px; line-height: 16px;">oh; i just love d20. just as much as i enjoyed having to powergame and murderhobo during my childhood. Pathfinder, is the Literal Representation of everything i dislike about my d20 heavy childhood.</span><br /><span style="background-color: white; font-family: Verdana, Arial; font-size: 13.3333px; line-height: 16px;"><br /></span><span style="background-color: white; font-family: Verdana, Arial; font-size: 13.3333px; line-height: 16px;">there is absolutely no difference between prestige class bloat and archetype bloat. especially when both are little more than page filler made to sell more books because player character options sell. now you know why i prefer savage worlds. i prefer trappings and substitutions over entirely new races or classes built around 1 new fighting style.</span><br /><span style="background-color: white; font-family: Verdana, Arial; font-size: 13.3333px; line-height: 16px;"><br /></span><span style="background-color: white; font-family: Verdana, Arial; font-size: 13.3333px; line-height: 16px;">in fact, the Pathfinder Race Builder isn't balanced at all. it is designed to make the core races look equal while making splatbook races look imbalanced. it is also the primary reason players ner Aasimaar, Fetchlings, and Suli. because they pay tons upfront for situational low level abilities that are forgotten by level 3.</span><br /><span style="background-color: white; font-family: Verdana, Arial; font-size: 13.3333px; line-height: 16px;"><br /></span><span style="background-color: white; font-family: Verdana, Arial; font-size: 13.3333px; line-height: 16px;">dwarves are literally nickle and dimed with bonuses. but nobody cares about how high you can jack a dwarf's saving throws. try a dwarven archer and wreck your foes.</span><br /><span style="background-color: white; font-family: Verdana, Arial; font-size: 13.3333px; line-height: 16px;"><br /></span><span style="background-color: white; font-family: Verdana, Arial; font-size: 13.3333px; line-height: 16px;">Pathfinder is built around the concept of core races being better for cheaper. it is built around wizards being gods d20 is designed to be powergamed, to be metagamed, to be shattered. d20 is for munchkins.</span>Umbrie Shadowsonghttps://plus.google.com/118051250263854884328noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6828291967094174897.post-4011310745133583552016-02-04T23:52:00.000-08:002016-02-04T23:52:10.694-08:00Random Stats and Racial Abilities? why are they still here?a simple Question and i will make this blog short.<div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div>the Munchkins need a set of Pads to Stuff their brassieres so they can make themselves feel like they have a bigger cup size than one another. i'm flat as a pancake and i am proud. and i will tell you some of the biggest problems i have with the Concepts of Random Stats and Racial Abilities</div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div>Point 1: Random Stats Inflate E-Assets</div><div><br /></div><div>you remember that point where your friends make fun of you for something you are lacking? this can be anything from Endowments, to money or even confidence. i won't give you a sob story of the feelings that led me to power game in my youth but i can tell you i did it to feel special, to stand out, to earn friends and respect, to be loved. and it didn't end well, my powergaming habits cost me more tables than i kept, but even worse, was my lack of filters. both made me really hard to game with.</div><div><br /></div><div>and while powergaming made me feel badass when i was rolling stuff my character was good at. i wasn't really being fair to my companions. while i play a lot of underage female characters due to the large moe following that has happened since the early 1990s at the very least. i have used that to actually try to keep my characters alive. usually by making them a low priority target. "you don't want to kill the 79 year old elf in the gothloli dress? you want to kill the 150 year old dwarf in plate"</div><div><br /></div><div>as you can tell, i have a habit of giving my characters a far higher level of intellect, wisdom and charisma than i truly possess IRL. especially charisma, &nbsp;and well, i suffered from many years Roll-Playing instead of Role-Playing.</div><div><br /></div><div>Random Stats. allow the player who miraculously rolled high, or cheated their scores, to have a massive unfair advantage that blatantly allows their characters to dominate greater foes than the characters with weak or even fair stats. and god forbid you have a character that has mostly penalties traveling along with a character that is purely bonuses. the latter will brag about his higher bonuses, while the former will complain and whime about their worse penalties. this can lead to very specific mindsets, especially for players who have horrible luck or players with extreme luck. most players who ask to roll in a point buy game, just want more stat points than the others.</div><div><br /></div><div>better to deny the rolls first. and better to deny a randomly generated character that was made at home without a credible witness, but with the player's "lucky dice." where are these lucky dice that cap the important half of my stats and leave the other half in above average or even professional range?</div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div>Point 2: Racial Abilities are just as munchkin</div><div><br /></div><div>i won't list a unique system for it. but most people that generally choose a race, are generally doing it for a racial ability that allows them to perform some broken gimmick, or simply want a racial stat bonus or few in whatever their primary stat for their build is going to end up being and don't care about the penalty to a stat they don't intend to use. while this is especially true of d20, and of the Various Editions and Retroclones of a specific popular nearly 50 year old Game Franchise that everybody knows the Title of. i will say the real reason people want different races to have different abilities, is so they can feel more powerful when they make that Orc a Barbarian, when they make that Dwarf a Fighter, when they make that High Elf a Wizard, when they make that Bunny Girl a Tavern Wench, when they make that Nymph a Shaman or when they make that Catgirl a Ninja.</div><div><br /></div><div>in fact, entire balancing mechanisms are applied to keep races in line, when in reality, most players are either going to play the Races as blatant Steriotypes, or play them as themselves but with a cute accessory such as a pair of Butterfly Wings or a pair of Bunny Ears. really, if your race has any advantages that are outright not standard? why don't they buy them with advantages and disadvantages? whether gained from character advance or from taking the disadvantages at character creation?</div><div><br /></div><div>are you really playing a bunny girl from a race of bunny warriors turned tavern wenches by years of being forced into slavery? or are you playing yourself with a bunny eared hairband because bunny ears are the new fashion trend you saw in an anime?</div><div><br /></div><div>Point 3: Social Status is just as munchkin</div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div>it is fine to have a social status on paper, but if you want that social class to actually buy you in game benefits. you should have to invest metagame resources into those benefits. being attractive without the benefits for free is fine, but if you actually want the social benefits of being attractive, please spend those advances. you needn't take an attractive advantage to play an attractive character, but if you want to use that attractive appearance for social benefits, spend some damned advances.</div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div>Point 4: Background Restrictions do not balance a merit/edge/feat</div><div><br /></div><div>if a feat/merit/edge is so powerful that you have to restrict its access to being taken at character creation, restricted its access to a certain alignment, or added behavioral restrictions such as a code of conduct to it, all you have truly done, is create an option you fear is too powerful and too munchkin to be used in certain builds. if you attach alignment restrictions or a code of conduct to a class, you are essentially saying the class is too powerful and you were desperate to balance it because you didn't know how to nerf it, by applying a character creation restriction to an Edge/Merit/Feat, you basically said that it is too powerful to be considered fair and has to be balanced by being taken at a point where it would be assumed to be considered sub-optimal.</div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div>Point 5. Arrays both outclass point buy and random stats at the expensive of variety.&nbsp;</div><div><br /></div><div>Arrays, though accused of killing character variety, actually don't, any character variety percieved to exist, actually truly doesn't in most class or archetype based systems. most systems can support maybe four or five character types with minor variations, and usually by shoehorning other Archetypes into the four or five. Systems like Cypher are smart enough to Admit this with Warrior, Adept, Explorer and Speaker. i mean, there is bleed-over between the four, but that is intentional to allow concept flexibility, most people playing a specific archetype with a specific playstyle, will play that archetype with the same overall play-style, regardless of how high their primary attribute is. using d20 as an example, it doesn't matter whether you have a 14 dexterity or an 18 dexterity. a character who defaults to archery as a combat style, will generally default to archery, regardless of what their actual dexterity score is and whether or not the campaign will allow them to increase it. characters who default to archery, usually tend to be human turrets. you will rarely ever have a mounted archer, or a flying archer, who mostly do those things for situational gimmicks. usually because most places have dimensions that rarely accommodate flight or mounts.</div>Umbrie Shadowsonghttps://plus.google.com/118051250263854884328noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6828291967094174897.post-28246404179013583832016-01-21T19:49:00.002-08:002016-01-21T19:49:53.955-08:00GM Fact, your NPCs are Technically Enablers, be careful what you includei have heard a common complaint from Many GMs about players having too much loot, too large a portable armory or leveling too quickly. but hear me out on my answer to all of these,<br /><br /><br />if your players are too wealthy or happen to be growing in power too quickly. it is entirely your fault as the game master or storyteller. this complain applies to any RPG. but let me pick on D20 for a bit. not because i strongly dislike the D20 system (i honestly do) but because D20 is an outdated format with many old problems.<br /><br />in common D20 System Fantasy RPGs. there tends to be an Escalation of magical equipment as you progress. this magical equipment is often gained by means of being pried from the cold and dead fingers of slain NPCs of importance. you know who made those NPCs and allowed them to have the very magic items the players slew them for? You, the Game Master/Storyteller did. it comes from an old philosophy which i will detail below.<br /><br />the moment you include a new Character Building Option for your NPCs, players are going to want to also be able to use that option for their own characters as well. so say in a medieval setting, owning a suit of plate, a horse or a plot of land, required you to be a noble. most player characters will try to find a way to become, slay or impersonate members of nobility so they can have the plate, the horse and the land. include a Jedi NPC with a lightsaber in a Star Wars game, and players are going to want to learn to utilize the force and wield lightsabers of their own.<br /><br />everything you allow for your NPCs, will eventually fall into the possession of your players at some point. if you don't want your players to have something, please don't include an NPC that has it. it is better to say plate armor doesn't exist in the setting and stick with it than to restrict plate armor to the nobility.Umbrie Shadowsonghttps://plus.google.com/118051250263854884328noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6828291967094174897.post-1767748998045626332016-01-06T22:02:00.002-08:002016-01-06T22:02:15.104-08:00a Philosophical Question? what happens when the badass is too badass for the world to handle?message for all the Combat Roleplayers who go on an Ego Trip and Overpower their characters for the sake of Winning and Feeling Badass.<br />so? you can cleave 12 nameless bandits in half with one slash? why are you still fighting nameless bandits if you drastically out class them?<br /><br />in fact, what does the master swordsman even learn from continuing to cleave bandits by the dozens? you have already proven that you are Way Too overqualified for the task. what meaningful reward are you getting for slaughtering these insignificant 1st level rogues?<br /><br />in fact, if you can honestly do this, then you are at the point where you can literally learn no further from killing said bandits, and would best leave the task for somebody who can actually learn from the experience.<br />to simply put it?<br /><br />if you are so damned competent at a potential task to the point that further competence is overkill? isn't it time to start the practice in an area your character isn't quite so competent at? as a 12th level fighter, 5th level bandit leaders fall by your hands in one round anyway. generally from a single called shot you could effortlessly make while blindfolded. what further point is there to wasting your time and hindering experience points that could be gained by novice Adventurers?<br /><br />if your character is the badass god of badassery? how do they really progress?<br /><br />sorry for the D&amp;D Analogies, but i figured they fit as shorthands.Umbrie Shadowsonghttps://plus.google.com/118051250263854884328noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6828291967094174897.post-69701269834891627362015-12-29T17:57:00.000-08:002015-12-29T17:57:23.062-08:00Break Time, Ilina's Confession, the real Adorkable Nymph<div style="background-color: white; color: #141823; font-family: helvetica, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19.32px; margin-bottom: 6px;">here is a Confession to the Truth behind Ilina and Tim,&nbsp;<a class="profileLink" data-hovercard="/ajax/hovercard/user.php?id=638383011" href="https://www.facebook.com/anthony.lane.5895" style="color: #3b5998; cursor: pointer; text-decoration: none;">Anthony Lane</a>&nbsp;gave me the courage to share this truth</div><div style="background-color: white; color: #141823; font-family: helvetica, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19.32px; margin-bottom: 6px; margin-top: 6px;"><br /></div><div style="background-color: white; color: #141823; font-family: helvetica, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19.32px; margin-bottom: 6px; margin-top: 6px;">Ilina is a Persona, a Role, played by an ameteur kabuki actor of sorts</div><div style="background-color: white; color: #141823; font-family: helvetica, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19.32px; margin-bottom: 6px; margin-top: 6px;"><br /></div><div style="background-color: white; color: #141823; font-family: helvetica, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19.32px; margin-bottom: 6px; margin-top: 6px;">i always wanted a little sister when i was younger, so in my head, i fabricated the ideal little sister in my head and well, created several candidates for little sisters i would also be willing to accept. hence me roleplaying the Aniri family as early as 1996 when i was around 7 years old and even&nbsp;<span class="text_exposed_show" style="display: inline;">conceiving them when i was 5 or 6.</span></div><div style="background-color: white; color: #141823; font-family: helvetica, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19.32px; margin-bottom: 6px; margin-top: 6px;"><span class="text_exposed_show" style="display: inline;"><br /></span></div><div class="text_exposed_show" style="background-color: white; color: #141823; display: inline; font-family: helvetica, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19.32px;"><div style="margin-bottom: 6px;">the Aniri family were the first imaginary friends to have a positive effect on my life and sanity in a world where others would get me in trouble.</div><div style="margin-bottom: 6px; margin-top: 6px;"><br /></div><div style="margin-bottom: 6px; margin-top: 6px;">i was raised mostly around women with no real male influence, my mother, grandmother and cousin. because of this, i always joined them on girl's nights out and felt like one of the girls. which made me very uncomfortable with my body and my Y chromosone</div><div style="margin-bottom: 6px; margin-top: 6px;"><br /></div><div style="margin-bottom: 6px; margin-top: 6px;">i turned to roleplaying, because i could channel my inner self through the persona of my fabricated imaginary little sister figures.</div><div style="margin-bottom: 6px; margin-top: 6px;"><br /></div><div style="margin-bottom: 6px; margin-top: 6px;">my Drama Teacher used to defend me for it, saying it was normal in historical theatre for males to play female roles.</div><div style="margin-bottom: 6px; margin-top: 6px;"><br /></div><div style="margin-bottom: 6px; margin-top: 6px;">and well, i am horribly ashamed of my body, so i use the childhood photography trauma as an excuse to cover up the truth of being ashamed of my body. even though i think&nbsp;<a class="profileLink" data-hovercard="/ajax/hovercard/user.php?id=638383011" href="https://www.facebook.com/anthony.lane.5895" style="color: #3b5998; cursor: pointer; text-decoration: none;">Anthony Lane</a>, Ladybeard, and Various other male crossdressers as well as many other Transexual friends i have on Various sites are Adorable.</div><div style="margin-bottom: 6px; margin-top: 6px;"><br /></div><div style="margin-bottom: 6px; margin-top: 6px;">i hope this doesn't change your opinion of me and you still see me as the sweet and supportive legal loli who will provide emotional support in times of need. my biggest reason for pretending to be married, was to avoid questioning, and to avoid relationships while i hid myself behind a persona to provide myself the courage to channel my inner effeminate self.</div><div style="margin-bottom: 6px; margin-top: 6px;"><br /></div><div style="margin-bottom: 6px; margin-top: 6px;">i know how it is common for Trans individuals to fear judgement, and at the same time, the reason i pretend to be mute, is because it is part of the persona, to retain the role.</div><div style="margin-bottom: 6px; margin-top: 6px;"><br /></div><div style="margin-bottom: 6px; margin-top: 6px;">i cannot bring myself to speak in person, and still seek permission to use the Ilina Selene Hawkins-Young persona for courage. because i promise to be the finest little sister i can, because at my core, i am one big imoutocon, faeriecon and lolicon.</div></div>Umbrie Shadowsonghttps://plus.google.com/118051250263854884328noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6828291967094174897.post-88934393898235061252015-12-20T03:12:00.001-08:002015-12-20T03:20:00.704-08:00D&D 5e, simplified combat gear.i mean yeah, i intend to simplify gear based on Category instead of based individual type. so as to encourage diversity in the same way savage worlds encourages. first, i am going to start off with Armor in this blog.<br /><br /><br />too often, people fuss over which armor is the best to have and well, light armor is often neglected in favor of heavy, and i want to bring the descriptive power back to the players. i will be coming up with armor types based on category, note that armor types in the book starting packages are instead replaced by armor of their type.<br /><br />Light Armor; Light Armor is generally of negligible weight, extremely quiet and concealable, also extremely cheap, doesn't require proficiency to wear, and provides an armor class of 13+the targets dexterity modifier. generally, a suit of light armor is of negligible cost and there are many that could be mistaken for clothing. the cost is generally determined by how elaborate and fancy the armor is. everybody is proficient in light armor<br /><br /><br />Medium Armor; Medium Armor requires medium armor proficency to wear, and generally weighs about 15 lbs when worn due to even distribution and a decent fitting intended to make it less tiresome to wear, an improperly fitted suit instead weighs 30 pounds to wear. improperly fitted suits include any suit you didn't first procure by commission, such as spoils of an adventure. armor is refitted by a DM and player approved cost. Rogues, Rangers, Paladins, Fighters, Clerics, Druids, Bards, and similarly martially inclined classes are proficient in medium armor. medium Armor provides a base armor class of 15+the wearer's dexterity bonus to a maximum dexterity bonus of&nbsp;+2 but also inflicts disadvantage on stealth checks due to the bulkier texture of the armor and louder clanging.<br /><br /><br />Heavy Armor requires heavy armor proficiency to wear and generally weighs 25 lbs when worn due to distributions and a decent fitting to make it less tiresome to wear. an improperly fitted suit instead weighs 50 pounds to wear. improperly fitted suits include any suit you didn't first procure by commission, such as spoils of an adventure. armor is refitted by an appropriate DM and player approved cost. Fighters, Barbarians, Paladins and Rangers are proficient in heavy armor, and so are clerics with the appropriate domains. heavy armor has an armor class of 18 and doesn't include the wearer's dexterity modifiers. Heavy armor provides disadvantage on stealth and acrobatics rolls when worn.<br /><br /><br />Weapons;<br /><br />i won't even track which weapons require which proficiencies. i will instead do them by weapon class. if you want to label a specific price for a specific weapon or armor, ask your dungeon master. the circumstances will change with the region, the economy and a vaiety of factors.<br /><br />Light Weapons can be wielded by any character in one hand, using the better or strength or dexterity to determine the attack and damage bonus. a light weapon may choose to deal 1d6 points of damage or deal 1d4 points of damage with the reach property. &nbsp;a light ranged weapon has range increments of 30 feet for close range and 120 feet for long range. a light ranged weapon can deal 1d4 damage at up to double these ranges instead. everyone is proficient with a light weapon. a pistol, kusari-gama scimitar and club are examples of a light weapon<br /><br />Medium Weapons can be wielded by any medium character with one hand or any small character with 2 hands. they use strength for attack and damage rolls if melee or dexterity for attack and damage rolls if ranged. a medium weapon deals 1d8 points of damage or can instead be made to deal 1d6 damage with reach, medium ranged weapons can be fired with 2 hands out to 60 feet for close range and 240 feet for long range. the thrown property can be added by halving these ranges. allowing strength as an alternate attribute for attack and damage rolls and decreasing handedness requirements to 1 hand. Bards of the College of Valor, Clerics with martially inclined domains as well as paladins, rangers, fighters, barbarians and monks are proficient with medium weapons. a longsword, warhammer, shortbow or javelin are examples if a medium weapon<br /><br />Heavy Weapons can be wielded by any medium character with two hands or any large character with one hand. heavy weapons are wielded by fighters, barbarians, rangers and paladins. heavy weapons deal 2d6 damage, or can instead deal 1d10 damage with reach. heavy ranged weapons consist of stuff like rifles and longbows, which have a short range of 120 feet and a long range of 480 feet.Umbrie Shadowsonghttps://plus.google.com/118051250263854884328noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6828291967094174897.post-41420675768011345312015-12-13T21:12:00.002-08:002015-12-13T21:12:49.332-08:00my love for D&D is rekindled by 5e.i have played D&amp;D since i pretty much started elementary school, and few systems could hold the same feel of Nostalgia. and well, D&amp;D 1e and 2e had lots of commonly removaeble charts, 3.5 had lots of customizeability, and 4.0 had lots of hidden innovations. but my favorite Edition of D&amp;D has got to be fifth, also called D&amp;D Next/<br /><br />Dungeons and Dragons Fifth Edition, your prestige classes are baked into the base class in a manner similar to Pathfinder's Archetypes. except that narrow field of Specialization is actually baked into your class, meaning you needn't be forced to trade the core of your class to be something new, and well, it makes designing subclasses easier. this perfectly marries the old 1st edition mechanic<br /><br />second best part. when you multiclass as a spellcaster with either of 2 progressions, you only use 1 track of spell slots, based on your total character level and useable by all your spellcasting classes. meaning casters actually have less trouble multiclassing. meaning yeah, if you want a rogue 12 wizard 8, you will still have 9th level slots, but you will have a caster level of 12 for important things.<br /><br />with the prime requisite system in the multiclassing section, which classes you can take are actually restricted by which scores you have a 13 or better in. this works well with the heroic NPC Array and well, actually helps weed out excessively crippled builds that make little in game sense, like fighters who did not gain strength or dexterity from a life of combat.<br /><br />and the background system is amazing, and even allows for substitutions pulled from other backgrounds. meaning if your race or class already offer a skill or tool, you can trade that background skill or background tool for one you don't have. this also applies to racial skills, tools and weapons. for proficiencies at least. or hell, if there isn't an exact mixed background covered, you can literally mix and match to make one of your choosing. while this may seem like a cheap way to get perception or athletics on any class, with access to the proper desired tools and kits, the amount of customization is so amazing.<br /><br />and well, characters feel much more competent at the low levels than they did in 3.5, without being as absurd as they were at the later levels. i mean, lower overall HP totals, but heightened access to out of combat healing, spammable cantrips, finesse weapons,and hell a decent amount of predetermined skills make 5e pretty amazing. plus, while you get fewer feats, each feat is a huge jump in specialization and there are even houserules for spending downtime to learn the use of skills and tools. and proficiency bonus is easy to calculate. and well, combat goes much smoother because there are fewer redundant spells and less overall numbers to crunch.<br /><br /><br /><br />what can i actually say i dislike about my new favorite edition of D&amp;D?<br /><br />the lack of official published material is a problem for me. there aren't any pre made psionics rules and while homebrewing subclasses or subraces is easy enough, homebrewing a full base class or basic race is a different story<br /><br />that wielding a weapon in both hands doesn't actually increase the amount of extra damage you deal from your strength, and well, in most cases, it is better to carry a shield than an offhand weapon or 2handed weapon.<br /><br />that there is no bonus for a high intelligence for martial characters beyond saving throws.<br /><br /><br />other things,<br /><br />i may sound like a 5th edition fangirl, but it is a freaking amazing system. nice, simple, customizeable and built with the best parts of its 4 ancestor systems. it has earned the name of "everybody's second favorite edition" due to having something good from everything.Umbrie Shadowsonghttps://plus.google.com/118051250263854884328noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6828291967094174897.post-85051877563303344572015-12-13T19:06:00.003-08:002015-12-13T19:06:46.731-08:00some key Revelations i realized for savage fallouti can't beleive i almost deluded myself into beleiving i wanted to play another sweet little girl in a post apocalyptic setting. i have enough innocent and vulnerable characters. i asked for advice on multiple sites, as if i talked myself into thinking i wanted to be the doctor or pharmacist again. but i played a Doctor for the second half of a year long campaign for 2 camapigns in a row.<br /><br />i am sorry for telling others that i was going to play another doctor. i guess pharmacist and doctor are the wrong words, i should have simply said i wanted to play a pre apocalypse character that knows basic first aid, but also isn't completely helpless in combat or scavenging.<br /><br />not quite a rogue, not quite a warrior, but somewhere between. someone who can do some skullduggery, can do some fighting, and can patch minor wounds between fights.Umbrie Shadowsonghttps://plus.google.com/118051250263854884328noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6828291967094174897.post-30653346511848708092015-12-12T15:19:00.001-08:002015-12-12T15:19:28.072-08:00Clerics are not Healbots part 2. the Maelstrom Revolution.funny thing, if you play a character who has the ability to learn healing as an option, people will expect you to fill the burden of healing their pathetic selves. and while i agree that actually having a brain and being involved with the fight can reduce damage taken by a drastic amount, as can actually using social skills like bluff or disguise, because yeah, being a convincing actor IC can save a groups life. nobody really remembers the time the cleric raised the fighter so he could inflict the finishing blow. and combat crits happen so often with some characters they lose importance. but everybody will remember when you critted that bluff or disguise check to impersonate one of the evil overlord's sergeants or the time the bard critically redeemed the femme fatale assassin after seducing her for information and promising her a new life.<br /><br />in fact, let me give you a story on how i pulled a fast one on a group based on a loophole in their wording. i was around 8th or 9th grade, we were playing a 2e retroclone that had feats similar to 3.0s feat system and different spheres actually had different granted powers.<br /><br />we were 14, we played RPGs during drama class. i was Told, "Ilina, we need you to play a cleric." and well, i heard the word "Cleric" and well, i had a cleric i had been sitting on using for 2 months, a cleric who worshipped an archfae matron called the "Maelstrom Maiden". to explain clerics of this particular goddess, she was a Sylph Pirate Queen with a heavy focus on her hatred of Slavery and was a darker and more violent inclination of Chaotic Good, where she violently freed slaves and punished slavers with terrorist tactics from history that where a thousand times worse than the way they treated their slaves. in fact, the cleric was shanghaied into a pirate crew against her will and rescued by the maelstrom maiden's storm of steel<br /><br />it was 2003, 3.5 wasn't out yet that i knew of, and there were still pockets of people modifying 2e. because 3.0 didn't have enough bloat to be considered playable and people always went for the exotic builds. i played a Sylph, basically a Storm Nymph, who happened to be a Cleric Dedicated to the Maelstrom Maiden, and well, she had a few Dervish Style Nonweapon proficiencies that made her a badass nimble blade dancing twin scimitar wielding badass. yes, i had major access to storm spells, war spells, and minor access to divination spells, water spells and air spells. no access to the healing sphere at all. and as you can put it, all the granted training my goddess provided, was focused on kicking ass with a pair of swords. i lost most armor and shield proficiencies but gained a scaling parry bonus that compensated the loss or armor. because it was a new retro clone with real armor classes and base attack bonuses. rather than that lousy Thaco system.<br /><br />i dominated combat in the name of the maelstrom maiden, freed many captives, never took prisoners, and well, punished slave traders and slave masters. and well, i released various sealed extraplanar beings, both angelic and demonic. because nothing should be in a cage and even destroyed pens to free livestock.<br /><br />i had a large amount more experience than the party, because of the unique rewards in XP that were offered for following my Matron's Tenets. and well, the group kept bitching that i wouldn't heal them and that i was a cleric, and well, i had to let them know "you said you wanted a cleric and you got one. if you wanted a walking first aid kit, you should have specified that you wanted a walking first aid kit."<br /><br />"but Ilina, you aren't even a cleric, you are a wannabe bladesinger with 2 blades." and i responded to them, "a cleric follows the tenets of their teachings, they aren't there to provide you with free healing because you just recklessly solve everything with brute force. learn to stop dumping charisma and start spending some proficiencies on acting or even diplomacy"<br /><br />but sometimes, you can't stop reckless idiots that want to simply kill things, especially when you outshine them at the very thing they wanted to do, just to prove that clerics are still very effective on the front lines if you worshipped the correct god. and well, followers of the maelstrom maiden didn't have the stupid restriction on edged weapons, and even got a bunch of proficiencies referring to blade dancing, dual wielding, and piracy for free. they didn't get to wear most forms of armor though. they had a similar AC mechanism to Monks.<br /><br />when that group asked for a cleric, they should have specified they wanted a walking first aid kit and not a real cleric. because when i play a cleric, i generally default to some kind of front line cleric because clerics actually have a lot of front line capability, quite a lot more than monks and rogues have.<br /><br />but yeppies, i want to hear all your opinions on my pulling a fast one on this group and playing a character i had ready for 2 months i didn't get a chance to touch until that moment. again, yet another group of grognards that banned me from playing clerics, because i play pro active front line combatants that make the reactive healers feel insignifficant.Umbrie Shadowsonghttps://plus.google.com/118051250263854884328noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6828291967094174897.post-5514617171081158932015-12-11T16:05:00.002-08:002015-12-11T16:05:49.323-08:00RPG Assistance "But my players have a small armory and i can't stop them"you know this moment all too well. you are fairly deep into your campaign. your players have amassed a small armory of highly dangerous weapons apiece, are completely oblivious to the weight of their almighty silly endgame armor, have so much money that mundane expenses are irrelevant, and well, have no problems breaking the economy by selling the massive dragon's hoard that is their next haul. but you ask "how can i prevent this?"<br /><br /><br />i can't tell you a lie and say you can prevent it, but i can give you a handful of solutions to delay this inevitable outcome.<br /><br /><br />1. enforce Encumbrance in both the form of weight and the the dimensions of the items. many players hate being penalized for carrying their massive hauls, but sometimes, to reign common sense, you have to actually restrict the amount of bulk a character carries.<br /><br />2. limit access to or even ban access to extradimensional storage devices. too often, we see "magic mart", and well even then, this bazaar of arcane goodies tends to have exactly what the players need, and what is the first thing purchased around the end of the prologue. more bag space, in other words, you get such a wonderfully overpowered thing in D20, and well, all its incarnations. a 5 lb bag that is literally used to carry every mundane tool you don't want to bear the burden of carrying. for 2,000 gold pieces, i can pay magic mart to deal with this burden of making an item to carry my loot for me. this actually kills the fun of prioritizing loot in a variety of roguelikes. because now, you can by the rules, carry everything you pick up without burden. better to ban magical bags and force players to buy a cart, purchase some donkeys, and rent a teamster and hire a team of guards.<br /><br />3. use common sense. if your player characters slew 100 goblins and took no precautions to not damage their armor beyond salvage. please let them know that the leather armor is destroyed beyond repair, is goblin sized, and well, is probably really filthy. no Sane NPC is going to buy 100 suits of filthy, disease ridden leather armor they can't really use or repair, let alone try to pay you a reasonable amount for scraps that would have to be cleaned and refurbished and are well, a long way from achieving use. and really? who wants a goblin shortsword? everybody can already get a knife pretty easily. please don't think you can flood the economy with cheap knives and not expect it to have consequences. a smart leather worker or blacksmith has an immediate life to worry about too, sure, they could turn that goblin equipment into something workable for the other people in a matter of months, but their families don't have a matter of months to really wait.<br /><br />4. please, don't use "magic mart", and apply common sense when restricting access to military grade equipment. whether you buy plate armor in a fantasy setting, which is restricted to nobility, assault rifles, which are limited to your nations military, or power armor, which is limited to the Federation's highest elite and established marine officers. you should realize, how much you want to restrict said equipment in the appropriate setting. it would be silly if everybody ran around with an M-16 or ran around in the highest grade federation armor, such things need restricted access. because they realistically aren't things that are available everywhere let alone accessible without permission of the appropriate factions or organizations in those settings.<br /><br /><br />5. enforce living costs, permit renewals and other realistic money sinks if you wish to delay your players from becoming the small armories they desire to become. a common example i suggest with power armor, is 6 laser weapon batteries, which i call fusion cells, 25 dollars and 1 pound each, can be used to power a suit of power armor for 12 hours of active duty. which is done to not only restrict ammo by providing another use for it, but also limit the availability of power armor in another way. &nbsp;effectively, people have to pay to renew their power armor and repair their gear. often for materials or whatever. i would say 25% of the group's haul is deducted to cover maintenance and lifestyle costs. maybe more if they have a bigger set of expenses to deal with.Umbrie Shadowsonghttps://plus.google.com/118051250263854884328noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6828291967094174897.post-25958759094758213052015-12-10T15:38:00.000-08:002015-12-10T15:38:23.920-08:00Clerics are Not Healbotsawkward thing i dealt with in my history of playing Grognards. not only is Arcane and Divine a Pointless divide for magic that really does nothing but keep wizards in robes. a design made to preserve an outdated aesthetic. and to prevent wizards from learning healing spells, despite the fact the necromancer has access to them as does any wizard who doesn't neglect necromancy.<br /><br />i mean, the line has been blurred on casters for like 2 decades. we have arcane classes that can cast healing spells and wear armor, but they apparently have to pay a tax for it. but really, a divine caster has an easier time accessing the arcane spell effects they desire.<br /><br />"but clerics aren't supposed to cast fireball? that is the sorcerers job." lets look at this, the cleric who follows the correct pointless behavioral restrictions, can pick up a domain that gives them blatant access to fireball. and clerics don't pay for their domains, they get them for being a cleric. why couldn't a wizard who focused on necromancy or even transmutation use their gifts to heal others? if it is balanced for one one spell list, it should be fine for another at the exact same level range<br /><br />but that is just a side point.<br /><br />clerics have access to a lot of potent offensive natured spells from domains, and well, they have access to a lot of personal range combat enhancement spells they can only cast on themselves, and well, their best buffs are the ones they can only cast on themelves.<br /><br />lets see what else the cleric gets that isn't healing related, they get easy access to heavy armor proficiency, if they don't already have it, they get shield proficiency, rogue level attack bonus progression, a decent hit die, decent saving throws in most editions, especially a ridiculous will, and depending on the set of behavioral restrictions they choose to follow, access to a large variety of extremely potent martial and even exotic weapons. with access to many personal range buffs that greatly enhance their ability to fight on the front lines, access to all these other frontline boons, and hell, a decent amount of domains that could offer anything from a potent offensive spell to an extra feat or few. why are we assuming a Cleric's job is to stand back and heal? i think with what the toolkit provides them, that they are clearly intended to take a proactive role in combat rather than a reactive one as a walking sentient box of bandaids.<br /><br />and hell, even if you wanted a ranged cleric, cleric domains offer access to potent offensive spells like fireball, lightning bolt, or hell, in one edition, reserve feats or whatever, can grant them a mini eldritch blast. i doubt clerics were intended to sit in the back and heal, they are very much proactive and offensive.<br /><br />here is a common spell that gets thrown around; Bless, what does it do? freaking bonus to attack rolls. what do you do with an extra 5% chance to hit, you smash things. in fact, a Cleric has a better chance of mitigating future damage by being offensive than they do by trying to heal others. there is not a single healing spell that will heal a downed ally for a high enough amount of HP for them to still fight after being smacked by the free attack a level appropriate enemy makes against them when they stand themselves up to ignore the prone penalties.<br /><br />another thing.<br /><br />we have so many caster classes that can access healing spells and armor. why do we have to keep the vision of wizards in robes? i know it has mythological precedent, but honestly, if a wizard invests the time learning to wear plate, we shouldn't tack on additional penalties because the wizard chose to wear plate, proficiency is plenty a requirement. hell, there was an anime with a wizard whose body was a suit of plate. yeah, his soul was bound to a suit of heavy armor.Umbrie Shadowsonghttps://plus.google.com/118051250263854884328noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6828291967094174897.post-36687091182396402602015-12-07T23:07:00.001-08:002015-12-07T23:07:36.549-08:00a blast from the past, the abbot<span style="background-color: #e0edff; color: #373e4d; font-family: helvetica, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; line-height: 15.36px; white-space: pre-wrap;">i realized i'm an accidental hybrid of the monty haul and killer GM types</span><div><span style="background-color: #e0edff; color: #373e4d; font-family: helvetica, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; line-height: 15.36px; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="background-color: #e0edff; color: #373e4d; font-family: helvetica, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; line-height: 15.36px; white-space: pre-wrap;">i reflected on some of my old one shots i run when i was younger and well, even though the rewards were heavy and tailored to the players desires, the fact my monsters used the equipment and consumables from their treasure allotments to make it difficult lots of potent rewards came in player hands, but also a massive body count</span></div><div><span style="background-color: #e0edff; color: #373e4d; font-family: helvetica, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; line-height: 15.36px; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="background-color: #e0edff; color: #373e4d; font-family: helvetica, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; line-height: 15.36px; white-space: pre-wrap;">i remember a level 5 paladin who asked me if they could have a holy avenger. here is the story of a massive party of adventurers working to get an item</span></div><div><span style="background-color: #e0edff; color: #373e4d; font-family: helvetica, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; line-height: 15.36px; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="background-color: #e0edff; color: #373e4d; font-family: helvetica, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; line-height: 15.36px; white-space: pre-wrap;">the party originally consisted of a&nbsp;</span></div><div><span style="background-color: #e0edff; color: #373e4d; font-family: helvetica, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; line-height: 15.36px; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="background-color: #e0edff; color: #373e4d; font-family: helvetica, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; line-height: 15.36px; white-space: pre-wrap;">half elf paladin 5</span></div><div><span style="background-color: #e0edff; color: #373e4d; font-family: helvetica, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; line-height: 15.36px; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="background-color: #e0edff; color: #373e4d; font-family: helvetica, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; line-height: 15.36px; white-space: pre-wrap;">half elf bard 7</span></div><div><span style="background-color: #e0edff; color: #373e4d; font-family: helvetica, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; line-height: 15.36px; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="background-color: #e0edff; color: #373e4d; font-family: helvetica, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; line-height: 15.36px; white-space: pre-wrap;">half-nymph shaman 9</span></div><div><span style="background-color: #e0edff; color: #373e4d; font-family: helvetica, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; line-height: 15.36px; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="background-color: #e0edff; color: #373e4d; font-family: helvetica, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; line-height: 15.36px; white-space: pre-wrap;">human psion 4</span></div><div><span style="background-color: #e0edff; color: #373e4d; font-family: helvetica, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; line-height: 15.36px; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="background-color: #e0edff; color: #373e4d; font-family: helvetica, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; line-height: 15.36px; white-space: pre-wrap;">drow ranger 6</span></div><div><span style="background-color: #e0edff; color: #373e4d; font-family: helvetica, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; line-height: 15.36px; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="background-color: #e0edff; color: #373e4d; font-family: helvetica, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; line-height: 15.36px; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="background-color: #e0edff; color: #373e4d; font-family: helvetica, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; line-height: 15.36px; white-space: pre-wrap;">elf rogue 5</span></div><div><span style="background-color: #e0edff; color: #373e4d; font-family: helvetica, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; line-height: 15.36px; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="background-color: #e0edff; color: #373e4d; font-family: helvetica, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; line-height: 15.36px; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="background-color: #e0edff; color: #373e4d; font-family: helvetica, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; line-height: 15.36px; white-space: pre-wrap;">after the investation, suriviving the fight and recruitng new members,</span></div><div><span style="background-color: #e0edff; color: #373e4d; font-family: helvetica, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; line-height: 15.36px; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="background-color: #e0edff; color: #373e4d; font-family: helvetica, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; line-height: 15.36px; white-space: pre-wrap;">half nymph shaman 10 (the closest thing to an original party member from the third adventure)</span></div><div><span style="background-color: #e0edff; color: #373e4d; font-family: helvetica, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; line-height: 15.36px; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="background-color: #e0edff; color: #373e4d; font-family: helvetica, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; line-height: 15.36px; white-space: pre-wrap;">half elf paladin 8</span></div><div><span style="background-color: #e0edff; color: #373e4d; font-family: helvetica, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; line-height: 15.36px; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="background-color: #e0edff; color: #373e4d; font-family: helvetica, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; line-height: 15.36px; white-space: pre-wrap;">drow ranger 8</span></div><div><span style="background-color: #e0edff; color: #373e4d; font-family: helvetica, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; line-height: 15.36px; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="background-color: #e0edff; color: #373e4d; font-family: helvetica, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; line-height: 15.36px; white-space: pre-wrap;">dwarf ranger 8</span></div><div><span style="background-color: #e0edff; color: #373e4d; font-family: helvetica, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; line-height: 15.36px; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="background-color: #e0edff; color: #373e4d; font-family: helvetica, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; line-height: 15.36px; white-space: pre-wrap;">human psychic warrior 8</span></div><div><span style="background-color: #e0edff; color: #373e4d; font-family: helvetica, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; line-height: 15.36px; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="background-color: #e0edff; color: #373e4d; font-family: helvetica, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; line-height: 15.36px; white-space: pre-wrap;">elf shaman 8</span></div><div><span style="background-color: #e0edff; color: #373e4d; font-family: helvetica, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; line-height: 15.36px; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="background-color: #e0edff; color: #373e4d; font-family: helvetica, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; line-height: 15.36px; white-space: pre-wrap;">aasimaar sorcerer 8 with half elf favored soul 6 cohort </span></div><div><span style="background-color: #e0edff; color: #373e4d; font-family: helvetica, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; line-height: 15.36px; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="background-color: #e0edff; color: #373e4d; font-family: helvetica, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; line-height: 15.36px; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="background-color: #e0edff; color: #373e4d; font-family: helvetica, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; line-height: 15.36px; white-space: pre-wrap;">after saving the abbot. the level 10 shaman gained a pet water elemental companion by spending a talent</span></div><div><span style="background-color: #e0edff; color: #373e4d; font-family: helvetica, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; line-height: 15.36px; white-space: pre-wrap;"> so because of the paladins want for a holy avenger scimitar. i included rumors of an Abbey in a mountain town that was beleived to possess a holy scimitar emblazoned with golden runes abbeys usually have a massive amount of monks, and well, i went with the historical western monk types rather than the eastern kung fu monk i included clerics, that were monks that drew power from their faith, retired fighters as temple guards in the fashion that many monks were retired footsoldiers, brigands who sought asylum and repayed the sanctuary with domestic assistance, essentially rogues, and well, scribes on loan to the abbot's educational library to restore and repair scriptures, in other words, wizards the twist was the abbot was replaced by an incubus, but none of the "monks" were actually aware of this, and were well, in denial a failed diplomacy roll from the paladin after the bard gathered evidence for a +4 circumstance bonus, (natural 1) led to a fight that left the bard, fighter, rogue, ranger and psion dead, and well, left the shaman and paladin being forced to retreat and well, being wanted by the outskirts village for "assaulting the abbot" in their place. 2 rangers, a sorcerer with a favored soul cohort, a second shaman and a psychic warrior 2nd attempt, the new players agree the escort the surviving raiders to the outskirts in exile, and the paladin must have her holy avenger, and knows the "abbot" has an evil aura the party seemed mostly prepared for the abbot, the increased healing and magic access allows them to curbstomp the mostly martial monks, that they didn't want to bother convincing them and well, the abbot was slain, but he still retained the abbots form in death and well, because the group murdered a monastery in 5 hours the villagers were offended they could kill someone so friendly for access to a mere artifact. and when the real abbot was bailed out of a soul gem, he banished the group for slaughtering his flock, in fact, he teleported them 1,000 miles away with a stone, and he was like "screw it, take my sword, you already slew 100 followers, maybe when you start a monastery, a reckless paladin brings mercenaries to accost your flock for it"</span></div><div><span style="background-color: #e0edff; color: #373e4d; font-family: helvetica, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; line-height: 15.36px; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="background-color: #e0edff; color: #373e4d; font-family: helvetica, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; line-height: 15.36px; white-space: pre-wrap;">the fact he was thankful for being rescued, was the reason he let them take the blade, and sent them away, instead of reporting them</span></div>Umbrie Shadowsonghttps://plus.google.com/118051250263854884328noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6828291967094174897.post-46480844072420402432015-12-07T03:20:00.002-08:002015-12-07T03:20:28.133-08:00Trappings; Part 1;trappings and reskins are fun, i use them in every character i play, sometimes with minor mechanical changes to better fit the character. i won't go into detail but i will point out a few guidelines in a good trapping or reskin<br /><br />1. make sure that the tradeoff is roughly equal, swapping a bonus to 1 skill for an equal bonus to another skill, swapping a racial minor hindrance for another minor hindrance to better fit the character's home culture. these are fine, just don't go trying to reduce an assumed major hindrance to merely a minor. and well, tacking penalties in exchange for bonuses doesn't always work well<br /><br />2. make sure the package of mechanics makes sense for the reskin based on your trappings, sure, you could probably reskin a dwarf as a Groot style tree person. and well, they would have a lot of abilities in common. despite a few minor differences elsewhere, like where they spend the points they got from their hindrances.<br /><br />3, make minor descriptive changes, and make sure the new creation fits the setting. while you could use the elf statistics for your elven android without needing much of a new race, some changes might change the ability of some other players to suspend their disbeleif, like the infamous chainmail bikini being as tough and protective as a suit of full plate.<br /><br />4. keep it sensible. nobody wants to see your little elf girl run around in a bra and panties that provide as much toughness as a suit of power armor. i mean, i'm guilty of doing this when i was younger, in my heavy comic book phase, and wanted to actually play a small elf who kicked ass in a bra and panties. like every other teen going through puberty did at some point, the fact i identify by the female gender has no influence on this tendency. everybody has had a 25th level lesbian stripper ninja at some point. mine just happened to be a snow elf mercenary with a scimitar and kite shield instead of a drow ranger with a pair of scimitars.<br /><br />5, when playing a wizard, it is fine to have multiple descriptions for the same spell to make your spellbook look padded. having alternate trappings within reason for your arcane background fits this. for example, a Pyrokineticist probably knows both incindiery and kinetic versions of the same attacksUmbrie Shadowsonghttps://plus.google.com/118051250263854884328noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6828291967094174897.post-22454692974721289502015-11-01T23:04:00.001-08:002015-11-01T23:04:16.979-08:00Dark Phoenix Cleared, Tsukuyomi Objective Completethe Dark Phoenix is cleared as of halloween. this loli got a free bag of candy corn and a snickers bar for showing up in a black and teal Alice dress and flashing her bloomers to the shop owner. special halloween thing, lotsa steampunk and lotsa gaming<br /><br />well, the group was bickering about who has to become the Sacrifice for the group to finish the campaign, after 2 hours of Bickering, i was in character as the Synth and Ex Dark Phoenix Operative, Tsukuyomi told the group. "my mission is to Serve the United States Government, there isn't much more i can do to reestablish, so i am ready for my final mission. Project Suzaku. Offer me to become the next Phoenix"<br /><br />after Tsukuyomi was uploaded to the phoenix terminal. &nbsp;the group got into a fight, because they apparently don't flee nor do they beleive in surrender. generally the group isn't very diplomatic and they fight their way through everything, saving their bennies for soak rolls and surviving the death rolls.<br /><br />after saving the group by means of Sacrifice. we got our epilogues, but because it was the final session. it didn't even matter whether or not the group survived. and our whole reason for surviving was to finish the railroad. well, zombie apocalypse for 2 months. fallout on the new year, gamer got rejected.Umbrie Shadowsonghttps://plus.google.com/118051250263854884328noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6828291967094174897.post-88646803841695774082015-10-26T17:46:00.001-07:002015-10-26T17:46:22.273-07:001st Character Concept i was considering for a New Years Fallout Campaign<div class="tG QF" style="background-color: white; color: #404040; font-family: Roboto, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18.2px; position: absolute; width: 0px;">&nbsp;</div><div class="Ct" style="background-color: white; color: #404040; font-family: Roboto, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18.2px;">to have some fun with Trolling my Saturday Savage Worlds GM with his fallout group, i am totally considering rolling up a young female wierd scientist with a modified left handed nintendo power glove that mimics the Ember Cylica from RWBY and well, a Hologram Projecting Jacket that blurrs ones movements in a manner akin to the predator cloak as her first 2 inventions﻿</div><div class="Ct" style="background-color: white; color: #404040; font-family: Roboto, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18.2px;"><br /></div><div class="Ct" style="background-color: white; color: #404040; font-family: Roboto, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18.2px;">essentially, the gauntlet starts with the smite power and will pick up the bolt power later, but it otherwise functions as a deathclaw gauntlet, not because it was made from a deathclaws hand hooked to a brace, but due to the tech augmenting the gauntlet. the gauntlet might later have blast and burst. it was inspired by the Ember Cylica from RWBY</div><div class="Ct" style="background-color: white; color: #404040; font-family: Roboto, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18.2px;"><br /></div><div class="Ct" style="background-color: white; color: #404040; font-family: Roboto, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18.2px;">the Holojacket will start with the deflection power and eventually likely pick up disguise and invisibility, while otherwise functioning as a light armor in the form of a quilted mesh jacket. providing a thin layer of passive protection to the torso and arms. the HoloJacket is essentially Predator Cloak from the Predator movies from the 1990s</div><div class="Ct" style="background-color: white; color: #404040; font-family: Roboto, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18.2px;"><br /></div><div class="Ct" style="background-color: white; color: #404040; font-family: Roboto, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18.2px;">essentially, she is legal age but slight framed, youth and immature while referencing potent late 20th and early 21st century gaming tech. and well, she is a Vault Dwelling Vigilante who uses the power glove and holo jacket as her signature weapons and upgrades them over time. making a pact with the old god 'Tari for this wisdom. so she is clearly delusional.</div><div class="Ct" style="background-color: white; color: #404040; font-family: Roboto, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18.2px;"><br /></div><div class="Ct" style="background-color: white; color: #404040; font-family: Roboto, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18.2px;"><br /></div><div class="Ct" style="background-color: white; color: #404040; font-family: Roboto, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18.2px;">well, i will post more character concepts when they come.</div>Umbrie Shadowsonghttps://plus.google.com/118051250263854884328noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6828291967094174897.post-90746383771379087502015-10-15T19:03:00.001-07:002015-10-15T19:03:44.927-07:00Ilina's List of DCC House Rules, Adventuring ProficienciesAdventuring Proficiencies are a new system for DCC designed to mimic some of the utility of skills and feats from pathfinder without the blatant power provided by the system. note that not all of these proficiencies are tested, and some of them might be class specific or even highly useless under certain classes<br /><br /><br />each class recieves a number of starting proficiencies at 1st level equal to 4 plus their intelligence modifier. in addition, everybody recieves the skill proficiencies native to their 0 level occupation for free, gaining&nbsp;+2 to rolls pertaining to their occupation. this isn't the sole list of proficiencies, but it covers most concepts<br /><br />Skill Bonus; (must pick a skill not native to your class and profession) choose a skill outside of your class and profession, you are trained in that skill, if it is a broad or highly useful adventuring skill (such as Perception rolls or Sneaking or even Lockpicking), you recieve a&nbsp;+2<br />bonus to that skill, if the skill is instead focused on an extremely situational and rarely used skill (such as tailoring or performance) or the bonus is on a narrow use of a skill that really shines when it shows up (such as perception rolls made to notice hazards or athletics rolls made to swim), the bonus is replaced with a&nbsp;+5. you may choose either the&nbsp;+2 or +5 version each time you select this proficiency.<br /><br />Attack Cantrip (requires Elf or Wizard); your wizard or elf learns magic missile as a bonus spell with the benefit they can cast it at will without risk of forgetting it as long as they have actions to spend. no roll is needed for this.<br /><br />Bottomless Cantrip; (Requires Elf or Wizard) Each time you select this ability, Select Either Detect Magic, Prestidigitation, Mage Hand, Ghost Sound or Silent Image, you learn this spell as an additional spell known and may cast it at will without risk of forgetting it and without a roll as long as you have actions remaining<br /><br />Weapon Proficiency; (must pick a weapon not native to your class and profession) choose a weapon not normally available to your class and profession, you gain proficiency in that weapon<br /><br />Brutal Throw (Requires Warrior or Dwarf, Cannot have Weapon Finesse, Guided Hand or Bladesong)<br /><br />you apply your strength modifier instead of your dexterity modifer to attack rolls with ranged weapons<br /><br />Weapon Finesse (Requires Thief or Halfling, Cannot have Brutal Throw, Guided Hand or Bladesong)<br /><br />you apply your dexterity modifier in place of your strength modifier to attack and damage rolls with melee weapons on the thief and halfling proficiency lists<br /><br />Bladesong (Requires Elf or Wizard, Cannot have Brutal Throw, Guided Hand, or Weapon Finesse)<br /><br />you were trained in the bladesinger style of combat, when wielding a melee weapon with which you are proficient, you apply your intelligence bonus instead of your strength bonus to attack and damage rolls<br /><br />Guided Hand; (Requires Cleric, cannot have Brutal Throw, Bladesong or Weapon finesse)<br /><br />when your cleric wields a weapon they are proficient with, they apply their personality modifier to the attack and damage roll in place of their strength modifier as they channel their god's will through their weaponUmbrie Shadowsonghttps://plus.google.com/118051250263854884328noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6828291967094174897.post-43290640508597052862015-10-14T14:53:00.002-07:002015-10-14T14:53:38.536-07:00An Old Savage Tale. a Tale of Underestimated Luckit was a Savage Worlds Science Fiction Campaign Taking Place in the 42nd Century A.D. with races from the fantasy companion serving as Alien Archetypes Alongside Terrans and well, the Party was a Crew of Interstellar Smugglers and Couriers in a whimsical fashion similar to the main cast of Futurama. we were forever having financial issues, constantly in debt, and well, we had angered the Republic Countless times.<br /><br />our courier license hadn't been updated in 15 years, and despite this being 4,257 AD, i was playing a Caucasian middle school student from 2,027 AD who grew up on Playstation and Graphic Novels. because she was a 12 year old Terran who was recently thawed, she had small and clueless as her major hindrances with outsider and timid as minor hindrances, with clueless specifically applying to the centuries 23rd and after/ so she was still learning the ropes of a delivery crew and became quite an effective Starship Combat Evasive Combat Manuevers (ECM) Specialist and in addition to outmanuevering most older individuals, was quite good at preparing targets for the opponent to fire at, using her "Playstation Skills" which were treated as a "Technology Roll" and she also had a decent investigation, because she looked up a lot of Hentai or some crap like that. stuff i did at that age.<br /><br />our Ship was impounded by the Republic for not having an up to date license, and well, because we couldn't afford our taxes or to update our license let alone pay 15 years worth of backbilled renewals, we were arrested and escorted to the capitol of the Republic's Penal System, a Prison Built on an Old and Dying Moon where prisoners were expected to do slave labor. being deemed unfit for physical labor, i got permission to do domestic labor involving my skill with technology.<br /><br />while they removed most of the crew's telecom earbuds and removed most of their weaponry and non-personal effects, and well, the only items i had were personal effects, a Smart Phone of the Samsung Galaxy S3 model, a lunch pail loaded with Art Supplies, and well, my phone charger. i didn't get to bring my playstation though. because they deemed that an ECM simulator.<br /><br /><br />within 2 days with my smart phone, i was told i needed 5 successes in 2 rolls to get access to a connection on an investation, my D8+2 exploded 8 times and i got a 65, or 16 successes, which gave me the passwords and access to everything in the Republics archives, as well as a list of Rich people to siphon money from, so i broke the security of a 42nd century database with a 21st century phone from pure luck.<br /><br />i then proceeded to report and hack the accounts of a few suspicious Republic nobles who my investigation told me were doing shady things, confiscating both the money of those nobles, and collecting a bounty for revealing their crimes on public blog. with the money, i wired money to the republic to buy off our renewel of our license, pay off and restock our ship, pay off the impound fees, bribe our way out of prison, and make a deal with offering to smuggle evidence as investigators<br /><br />the Senator agreed on the condition that we fake our escape and make it look like a prison break, so i handed the toughest fighters, the Dwarven Captain and the Orcish Bruiser, each one of my pairs of 21st century student grade lefty scissors to nonlethally disable the power armored guards and get our escape to make the deal.<br /><br />most of the guards were acting inferior because it was scripted. and well, to think all this happened with 16 successes on a technology roll. and well, this illuminati style organization of corrupt republic officials now wants us dead, but our courier license is renewed for 30 more years, and we escape, and well, the GM thought there was no way i could get that many successes until i gained them right in front of him and well, Terran 21st century technology began to resurface in popularity, and they started remaking the playstation 3, because it was apparently that good an ECM simulator. it wasn't campaign end, but i negated an entire adventure or few through sheer luck. but this was back in 2010-2011ish. i think.Umbrie Shadowsonghttps://plus.google.com/118051250263854884328noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6828291967094174897.post-23639035503017620562015-10-07T23:21:00.000-07:002015-10-07T23:21:17.670-07:00Adorkable Nymphs First Review, Pathfinder, the Stain of innocencebecause every Version of D20 plays Nearly Exactly the Same, i thought i would make this pathfinder Review first. Adorkableness Start<br /><br /><br />Helloesies, i started with Pathfinder when it was new, and while it claimed to fix the problems of 3.5 Edition D&amp;D and continue the license, it never delivered on either promise. we just got more numbers, new numbers and bigger numbers. while i love Math in small doses, Pathfinder is just too much math for even a Math Lover and Accountants Adopted Daughter like myself<br /><br />D20, isn't even a decent combat simulator, Numbers get so bloated from the static bonuses that luck is completely irrelevant and it is all about how many bonuses you piled on the Counteract the Random Number Generator. this is a problem with D20 in general, the fact is, by the time you actually develop a 30 Armor class, everything you face has at least an 80% chance to hit you while power attacking.<br /><br />to Counteract the Escalating Numbers in Both Sides, both Sides Add Numbers, levels and Resources that allow them to stack even more numbers. most often in the form of magic items, making Mathfinder characters into nothing more than a Vessel for there christmas tree of highly specific magically altered bling.<br /><br />even worse is the Homicidal Mentality Pathfinder Player Characters Indulge themselves in. Homicidal Transient Brigands who only haven't murdered you because you willingly parted with your hard earned loot the easy way to redirect their murder. this mentality is often seen in Video games as well, where a player completely flips out unprovoked and murders an NPC, because they know the NPC has a pretty pair of extremely useful magical boots they want to have.<br /><br />Pathfinder was a major stain to my roleplaying innocence, i couldn't complain because i am technically a mute and nobody would read my 18 inch diameter square blackboard. but even before the history of repeated sore throats robbed me of my voice in a permanent manner. i really dislike homicidal transients, not that i'm unwilling to play one if that is the group's style or the group needs a fighter, it is because of D20 that i usually take up whichever role the group wants least/ tired of playing the cleric, i know, it is a cliche. yeppies, you will get a cleric, just not the cleric you want. you aren't getting a healer in white robes with a staff and silver crucifix. you might get a Cultist of Some God of Death, that wear mourning garb and honors the life portion, if you don't mind your soulless husk being reanimated as a zombie.<br /><br />i give what the party claims to need, i just don't give it to them in the way you want. but to get off the tangent. CMD is too easy to raise to ludicrous levels, you completely need magic items as early as level 2 or 3, and well, pathfinder has no storytelling mechanics outside of what you can find in a miniatures skirmish wargame like warhammer. they boil down roleplay into bluffing, diplonacy or intimidation skills and call it roleplay, while i understand the intent, the player should at least describe the direction they are taking with their social skills, such as aggressive negotiation or seduction or whatever.<br /><br />either way, this is just the first part of the review of my personal experiences with pathfinder.Umbrie Shadowsonghttps://plus.google.com/118051250263854884328noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6828291967094174897.post-27956258614042008472015-10-07T22:49:00.000-07:002015-10-07T22:49:00.550-07:00The Adorkable Nymph's First Blog. an IntroductionHelloesies, my full name is Ilina Selene Hawkins-Young and i Game in a lot of shared groups with my Husband and Former Adoptive Brother, Timothy James HawkinsYoung. for my first blog, i thought i would perform an introduction.<br /><br /><br /><br />as the Adorkable Nymph, the Reason behind this name, i am an Adorable Dork, and at the Same Time, i really really like Fae Creatures a bit excessively, plus, like most Fae, Despite being 26 years old chronologically, i have the build of a 12 year old girl due to a genetic disorder. but i won't explain the full details, just that i lack the ability to independently produce certain hormones<br /><br />in Elementary School, back when i was my Husband's Adopted Sister at the time, Around 1st or 2nd Grade, 1996 or 1997. we were in the Elementary School Drama Club, our Drama Club doubled as a roleplaying club, and we had more roleplaying projects than acting projects. i did 5 years of 2nd Edition D&amp;D with shared books that belonged to our club coordinator<br /><br />2nd Edition Sounded Cool at the time, because all we knew was D&amp;D and it was a portal for many into roleplaying. when we started middle school in 2001 or 2002ish, the drama instructor there played 3rd edition and our high school drama coordinator played 3.5 edition. until about 2009, all we knew how to play was dungeons and dragons with a shared library of school PDFS any student could download, even after graduation<br /><br />in 2009ish to 20010, we discovered pathfinder, which we thought was cool because our immature minds were driven in a mad bliss by the power, playing with a DM on Saturdays we named Weekly William, we first joined his group on the Saturday before my Husband's Grandmother's Birthday in 2006. my Husband's name is Tim.<br /><br />we were original members of Weekly Williams cast, and after the 2010 conversion to Savage Worlds, 2 of 6 out of originally 17-23 players who stayed. meaning roughly 11-17 players left with the conversion. at first, we hated Savage Worlds because we couldn't indulge our wish fulfillment fantasies.<br /><br />up until 2013. it was all post apocalyptic campaigns and a struggle playing in play by post, because Tim and I, coming from a 19 or 20 year RP background involving R rated stuff, had a hard time keeping it PG13, plus our characters were seen as a bit creepy.<br /><br />from 2013-2015, Weekly William is still on his post apocalyptic Savage Worlds Kick, and he still doesn't realize, that restricting entire build options to NPCs and restricting entire Hindrances or Edges to just the NPCs for the sake of Reigning in cheese, doesn't do much to excite the group. i can understand restricting species or magic types based on setting, but please, don't tell a player they can't play a psychic in a post apocalyptic game, only to include a 13 foot tall psionic chicken that farts radioactive fire using pyrokinesis. it is not funny, and nobody takes it seriously. what is sauce for the goose is sauce for the gander. if you don't want to deal with Pyrokineticists whiping out your horde of mooks, you shouldn't include a silly pyrokinetic joke monster. if a chicken can become psychic, so can a human, in fact, a human is far more likely to have the brains for psionic powers than a darn chicken.<br /><br /><br />some time in 2012-2015, i discovered this friend named Nova, i think it was 2014, Nova and i get along well, even though i can't play in any more of his skype groups, mostly due to unintentionally offending other players with my R rated content<br /><br />later in 2015, i joined and met with this guy named Cody Martin, who has a lot of similar nterests to myself, but thanks to Nova, i learned a bit about BRP, Cypher, Magical Burst, Fate and many other fascinating systems<br /><br />in high school, i had bad Experiences with Role master that turned off the entire club, but this is the Adorkable Nymph's Introduction.Umbrie Shadowsonghttps://plus.google.com/118051250263854884328noreply@blogger.com0